Preview

OVERVIEW

Students use previewing skills in their everyday lives to decide what foods to eat, clothes to buy, and movies to watch. In this lesson, students use previewing to activate their prior knowledge and set a purpose for reading. Using a strategy called THIEVES, which is an acronym for title, headings, introduction, every first sentence in a paragraph, visuals and vocabulary, end-of-chapter questions, and summary, students are guided through a preview of a nonfiction text. After guided practice, partners work together to use the strategy to preview a chapter from a textbook. Students discuss what information they "stole" from the chapter and discuss how the strategy is useful in better understanding a text. In a culminating activity, students write a letter to their partner in which they describe why previewing is a helpful strategy and describe how to use the THIEVES approach.

Standards

NCTE/IRA NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS

Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound–letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).

Session 1: Model Lesson

1.

Announce to students that they are about to become thieves. Explain that they will learn how to "steal" information from texts before they actually read a chapter or article. If students are familiar with the term previewing, encourage them to share strategies they use to preview a chapter. If they are not familiar with previewing, ask them to brainstorm ideas on how they might look through a chapter before they begin reading to get an idea of what it is about. Discuss why previewing is a helpful reading strategy. Lead them to discover that previewing will help them activate prior knowledge, set a purpose for reading, and set expectations for reading so that they can better understand the concepts they are about to encounter.

2.

Display the transparency for the Becoming THIEVES handout on an overhead projector. Give each student a copy of the handout as well. While brainstorming, encourage students to peruse a chapter they are about to encounter in their social studies or science textbook. With their help and suggestions, identify the elements that make up the THIEVES acronym. Students should fill in the handout as the teacher fills in the transparency interactively with the class. Inform students they will be using the Becoming THIEVES handout to perform THIEVES on future texts throughout the school year so they should take careful notes and ask questions as necessary. Emphasize to students that they may not find all of the THIEVES elements in every nonfiction text that they read.

3.

After each element is identified, configure a semantic map or web of the elements by drawing lines out from each element and adding details to describe what information could be gathered from each one. Add details appropriate to the level of the class. Students should copy the semantic map or web on the back of their Becoming THIEVES handout to use for future reference.

4.

Next, tell students that you will think aloud for them while you perform THIEVES on the chapter they have been perusing. Encourage them to listen carefully because they will be performing the strategy themselves on Session 2 of the lesson and throughout the rest of the school year. To guide you, put the transparency for The Elements of THIEVES handout on the projector. Answer the questions on the sheet and literally think out loud so students can follow your logic as you apply the strategy.

5.

Summarize with students what they have learned about previewing texts using the THIEVES strategy.

Session 2: Practice Lesson

1.

Review the elements of previewing a text using the THIEVES strategy (refer to the Becoming THIEVES handout completed in Session 1). Ask students why previewing is a helpful reading strategy.

2.

Assign students to work with a partner. Using a chapter that students will encounter soon in their textbooks or a sample online chapter listed under the Resources and Preparation tab, have students complete The Elements of THIEVES handout. Each student should receive and complete his or her own worksheet. Partners may have the same answers since they are working together.

3.

Stop partner work 10 minutes before the lesson is over and go over what students "stole" from the chapter. Help students verbalize a summary of what they think the chapter is about and how previewing the chapter could prove helpful to understanding the text when they read it.

4.

Collect The Elements of THIEVES handout from each student and evaluate student's responses by providing helpful comments and feedback for each student.

Session 3: Assessment

1.

Return The Elements of THIEVES handout to students. Describe and discuss those areas where students generally need further help.

2.

Assign students to write a friendly letter to their partner describing why previewing is a helpful reading strategy and explaining how to use the THIEVES approach. Encourage students to use the two handouts Becoming THIEVES and The Elements of THIEVES for reference. Each student should compose his or her own letter individually. Encourage thoroughness and inclusion of details without simply reiterating notes from the handouts. Students should describe how to use THIEVES by specifically describing, not just listing, each of the elements. Tell students to flavor their letters with their personal voice to make the letters interesting and fun. If students do not finish the letter in class, they can complete it for homework and hand it in the next day.

EXTENSIONS

Assign students increasingly difficult texts on which to perform the THIEVES strategy. Include texts across the content areas. Encourage students to challenge themselves and see how much information they can gather from texts above their reading comprehension level.

STUDENT ASSESSMENT/REFLECTIONS

Session 2. Teacher observation of the student's involvement in partner work; completion of The Elements of THIEVES handout

Session 3. Assign a grade to the student's letter by evaluating the number of elements described accurately. For example, if a student lists 6 or 7 elements, the grade would be an A, and so on. Letters must also include the purposes for previewing a text.

Reporting on an informational book doesn’t have to be boring! Instead of the traditional book report format, students create newspapers using a Printing Press interactive to share what they have learned from reading informational books.